


Best Friends Forever... Right???

by SnazzyShipper



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mortal, Best Friends, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Minor Swearing, POV Annabeth Chase
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-07-15 16:43:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16067174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnazzyShipper/pseuds/SnazzyShipper
Summary: Percy and Annabeth have been best friends since they were little kids. They're going to remain the same forever, with nothing more happening between them.Or... are they?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> These characters belong to the one and only Rick Riordan, not to me. Wish they did, though.: ) And by the way, I know embarrassingly little about the American education system, so please forgive any mistakes on my part.  
> Also, this is unbetaed.

Percy Jackson was Annabeth Chase's best friend. Just that. Not less and obviously not more. It was a simple fact, like the fact that the Earth was round, that it revolved around the Sun, and that Percy loved blue. It was constant and unalterable.

Percy had been her best friend since they were both seven. She still remembered the first day she'd met him.

It had been their first day of second grade. She had been sitting in a corner, revising the topic that was to be covered that day in class. She was halfway through it when she felt someone sit down beside her. She turned, annoyed. 

"Hello", the boy beside her said shyly, his hair mussed and his startling green eyes friendly, yet hesitant. "What is your name?", he asked. "Annabeth. Annabeth Chase", she answered shortly, waiting for a while before reluctantly asking, "What's yours?". He seemed extremely pleased to be asked the question. "I'm Percy Jackson'', he said brightly. "What are you doing?"

By then, she was extremely irritated. ''Oh, nothing at all. I was just trying to, you know, study a little, before you came and disturbed me, but that's not important". His face fell instantly. ''Oh. I'm - I'm really sorry then. I'll just go".

As he walked away, Annabeth felt a sudden wave of guilt hit her. The boy - Percy - had just been trying to be nice, but she had been unreasonably rude him. So she got up and went after him. ''Hey Percy, that was very rude on my part. I'm so sorry''. For a moment, he said nothing, but then his face broke into a large smile. ''Don't worry. I realized that I probably was disturbing you. I won't do it again, I promise." He started to turn away, before pausing and giving her a chip-toothed grin. "And just so you know, we are going to be best friends."

So, within 2 months, after some fights, some harsh words from both sides and a broken nose (don't ask),that's what they became. They would go eat lunch together, play together, study together and do pretty much everything together. Eventually, Annabeth started spending most of her time at Percy's house where Sally, his mother, always welcomed her with a brilliant smile.

Over the years, their bond grew stronger and stronger, until they were literally inseparable. Sure, they had other friends, but none as good as each other.

But soon, Annabeth's happy days came to a screeching halt. 

When she was 15, her parents started to have their first big fights and she was absolutely terrified. She was afraid that they would leave each other and her whole world would be shattered.

When it happened for the first time, she listened to them quarrel in silence for some time, but after a while, she couldn't bear it any longer, and so, she went into their room and cried and begged them to stop shouting. They saw how frightened their daughter was, and so they ceased to fight. It was, however, the first and last time they did that.

Over the next few days, her parents barely spoke to each other. Although, in front of her, they acted amiably and pretended like everything was fine, but she wasn't a fool. She knew nothing was fine.

And then, a dark night came and changed her life forever.

She had been in her room, studying, when she heard the sound of voices steadily increasing in volume. Trying to clamp down the feeling of unease growing in her gut, she continued to do her work. Finally, she heard a loud shout, ''You know, I can't stand it anymore, Frederick, and I-''. ''Oh, and I can?", her dad yelled. ''You know that I am too tired of this".

And on and on it went for hours. Her parents continued screaming at each other, while Annabeth sobbed in her room, her back against the wall, rocking back and forth. She wanted to go out and stop them again, but something in her heart told her that they wouldn't pay her any heed, not this time. Finally when she heard a loud CRASH! and THUD! from downstairs, from what she didn't know, she could bear it no longer.

"Percy", she thought. She leaped up, went to the widow, climbed down and then, ran straight towards Percy's house, not caring that it was nearly midnight. And so on she ran, not stopping till she reached her destination. 

"Percy! Come out please! Percy!!!", she called desperately when she reached there, hammering on his window, which was fortunately on the ground floor. "Per-", she started to call again, just as the window opened. "Hey Wise Girl, what's the matter?'', Percy asked sleepily, a bit surprised.

And as she looked at him, his face which was as familiar to her as her own, his adorably mussed hair, his eyes, which still held welcome and care, despite the sleepiness in them, she broke down in sobs. He jerked straight upright, instantly alarmed. ''Hey ", he said, climbing out the window. ''What's wrong?"

As soon as he was fully out, she threw her arms around him and burst into renewed tears. She didn't, however have any time to feel embarrassed about her crying, for he put his arms around her, laying his cheek against her hair. "Annabeth", he murmured , "Please, just - just tell me what happened.'' She just clung to him, her tears seeping into his shirt.  
By now, Percy was positively scared. "Love", he said gently, trying not to let his panic show, "Please. Please just tell me. What is it?" 

At last, she drew away from him to draw in a breath. ''It's just that - that I think my parents are going to leave each other.'', she said shakily. He stared at her for a moment, aghast, before immediately recapturing her in his arms. ''Honey, I'm so sorry, I'm so very sorry''', he said, stroking her hair. ''But don't worry, you'll be okay, I swear. Everything will be okay. I'm here for you.''

She said nothing as he continued whispering soothing things to her, merely tightening her arms around him. She sighed in the warmth of his embrace, finding comfort in the salty and fresh scent of the ocean that always seemed to surround him. She wondered why she found comfort in everything he did, in his very being. And then it hit her.

It was because he felt like safety, she realized. 

It was because he felt like home.

Eventually, they started to feel cold outside, so they both went into his room. Once inside, Percy sat down on his bed, pulled on Annabeth's hand and made her sit down beside him. Then he put his arm around her and drew comforting circles on her shoulder. And just like that, they fell asleep.

But that wasn't exactly how Sally found them in the morning. Well, they were fast asleep all right, but now, they were both lying on their sides, facing each other, completely entangled. Percy's arm was slung protectively over Annabeth, while her leg was curled around Percy's. And Percy's other arm was being used by her as a pillow. 

After Sally had gotten over the initial surprise of seeing Annabeth there, she listened to her story, with a pained expression, before giving her a tight hug and promising, like Percy, that everything would be okay.

And indeed, okay it all was. When Sally inquired, it came out that Annabeth's mom had returned to her parents' house, and her dad was nowhere to be found. So, when it was decided that, Annabeth, for the time being, would stay with the two Jacksons, her joy knew no bounds. She was, for now, going to be living with two of her favorite people in the world.

For the next few months, Annabeth's life was Heaven. She was living in the company of people who actually cared about her. 

Sometimes, Sally would suddenly start teasing both of them about how she'd found them that morning. Whenever she did this, Annabeth would laugh, but Percy, strangely, would blush and change the subject. ''Maybe he's really affected by this teasing business'', she thought.

She, however, wasn't bothered by it in the slightest. She knew, of course, that she and Percy were best friends, and nothing more. She knew that they could be nothing more. Until the time she didn't.

***

It was two weeks after Percy's 18th birthday. Their exams had just gotten over, and so, they were enjoying a huge break from all the studying. Actually, just Percy was. Annabeth wasn't hearing a word of it, because, well Annabeth. She was, therefore, planning a small celebration with Percy (only at his insistence), then going back to her apartment where she'd recently moved in, and curling up on the couch with the better one of the two novels she had to read for her class.

At the present moment, they were thinking of getting ice creams for celebration. At first, they debated over whether to invite their friends or not, but then decided against it, thinking they could use some time alone together. So off they went to the nearest ice cream shop.

When they reached there, they had a small argument over the choice of ice creams flavors, as usual. Annabeth wanted to go with vanilla, but "How can you eat that?!?! It's just so - so disgusting and plain!!!", exclaimed Percy dramatically, using his hands for emphasis. ''You are having a chocolate chip and mint ice cream with me today, and that's final!", he declared. She tried to protest, but he sensed that it was half hearted, and with a triumphant grin, walked away towards the counter. With a sigh and a small smile, she followed him.

As he was ordering, she gave herself a moment to take in the sight of him. 

Over the last few years, Percy had gone from long and lanky, to, well still long, but a little less lanky, and a bit more muscle. It was, however, the slim sort of muscle, the kind of which she had always admired in swimmers. He was also quite tall now (taller than her, the bastard). That, coupled with his strikingly attractive green eyes, strong jawline, sharp collar bones and black hair, which always looked beautifully messy, had made him one of the most popular boys in school. 

Consequently, all the girls just threw themselves at him and flirted with him shamelessly, while batting their eyelashes. Although Annabeth pretended to gag behind the girls' backs and offer them her glasses for a better sight, she always felt a strange, inexplicable annoyance and a surge of prickly heat run down her spine, whenever this sort of thing happened. 

She was, however, absolutely certain that it was because of the uncomfortable look that came on Percy's face during this everyday occurrence. 

But , to some extent, she supposed she couldn't blame those girls. They thought he was gorgeous and she really couldn't agree more. He was gorgeous. Extremely so.

But then, according to her, he had always been.

She was broken out of her reverie by Percy, coming towards her, grinning, holding the two ice creams aloft like some hard earned trophies. He stopped in front of her, handing one to her.

"Soooo.... What do you think of it??", he asked as she gave it a small, tentative lick. She glanced up to see him looking at her with wide, anxious eyes. She smiled, giving him a thumbs up. At that, his face broke into that wide grin she loved so much.

"See, I told you so, didn't I?''

"And here we go with the 'I told you so's", she sighed, rolling her eyes.

He just laughed, saying nothing. And so they got out and started making their way home, accompanied with their usual banter and trash-talks. All was okay until they reached Annabeth's flat. She had still not managed to eat her ice cream, much to Percy's amusement, who had finished his eons ago and claimed that he could eat four ice creams within the time she managed to finish one.

By the time she reached her door, she had "finally" eaten her ice cream, according to Percy. "Hey, it's too cold,'', she protested, while opening the lock. "Okay, Season 7 Ross", she heard his mocking tone from behind her.

They both went inside and after keeping their bags on the table, Annabeth turned around to face him. "So now, what do you - ", "Hang on, Wise Girl,'', he exclaimed in surprise, cutting her off, ''Even after all these years with me, haven't you learnt how to eat ice cream?!?" " What? Why, have I got it somewhere on my face?" she asked, self-consciously patting her face. "Yeah, but don’t' worry, I got you.", he said, before swiping his thumb over her bottom lip.

She went absolutely still. Although it was only a moment, to her, it seemed like years by the time his thumb reached the other corner of her mouth, removing the ice cream. Her heart was beating faster, and the temperature seemed to have risen by several degrees. It increased just a bit more, as she watched him bring his thumb to his mouth and suck the cream off it. ''Mmm... so delicious", he moaned.

She was still staring at him, motionless. What had just happened to her? She'd never experienced this kind of thing before, and especially never with Percy.  
She wasn't even sure what 'this thing' was, for crying out loud!

"Why are you looking at me so weirdly?,", he asked after a moment. "It got me too??''. Returning to the present with much difficulty, she said something really smart like, "Uhhh... what?", ''I asked", he said with exaggerated slowness, "whether I had something on my face too?". "You wish, Seaweed Brain", she replied, wincing internally at the not-so-smart retort. 

He just rolled his eyes, before suddenly asking, "So, what were you going to say?". She was caught off guard by his question, ''Me? I wasn't going to...'', she trailed off, suddenly remembering. "Oh yeah, I was asking what you wanted to do while I study? Or rather,'', she smirked, ''What was the new way in which you were planning to disturb me while I study?" "Ha-ha! I'm lucky I'm not dead from laughing so much!", he deadpanned. 

"No, actually there's this homework I've been putting off for ages and if I don't complete it soon...", He drew his finger swiftly across his throat. "All right then,", she sighed, "Let's do this!"

And so, the rest of their day was spent normally, in studying, which involved algebra for Percy, Jane Eyre for Annabeth, but fortunately, no removing-icecream-from-face incidents.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!!!  
> So I guess I'm "finally" back!!!  
> Sorry for making you all wait so much!  
> Hope you all enjoy this and it matches your expectations!!! :D

Annabeth had never, ever hated someone so much in her entire life.

Or rather, two someones.

And the someones were none other than her lousy, goddamned, asshole biology teacher and her loathsome, evil, foul classmate.

Annabeth's blood was boiling just thinking about the incident:

The biology class was going on, and Mr. Manter was returning the essays the students had given him a few days back. On and on went the names, until finally - "Annabeth Chase", he called in a scathing voice (He'd hated her ever since she'd corrected him about something one day. Long story.) 

She walked up to his desk, confident she'd received an A, as she had put a lot of time and effort into it.

He handed the essay to her with a smirk, looking up to gauge her reaction. She looked at the small red letter in the corner and her head jerked up. "An F? Seriously? You dare give me an F?", she snapped.

"I believe that this F, Miss Chase, is the result of your tendency to cheat, rather than my daring", he said, with the same obnoxious smirk. 

"My cheat- What are you even talking about?!", she scowled.  
"I was talking", he continued, as if speaking to a daft kindergartener, "about how you copied all of Ms. Tanaka's work and then had the guts to submit it to me!"

Annabeth gaped at him, unable to say a word in response to this blatant lie. As she stood there, struggling to form a coherent sentence, she heard her name being called from behind, in a low voice. She swung around, only to find Drew (the aforementioned Miss Tanaka) grinning maliciously up at her.

In a flash, she understood what had happened:

She had almost completed the essay in question a day before it was due. She'd brought it with her to college to proof read and do some editing. 

When she had got some free time, she had immediately set to work. During that time, Percy had come to her class, as, fortunately, he was also having a substitution.

And after finishing her essay, dumb Annabeth, incredibly stupid Annabeth, instead of putting it away safely in her folder, had just left it lying on her table, before going out with Percy. 

When she had got back, there was no sign of it. She had searched high and low for it, but to no avail. She was almost in hysterics by the end of the day, before Percy had comforted her and suggested that maybe the professor would understand her story. She had said nothing, just nodding her head dejectedly.

The next day, when she had reached her class, she had spotted her essay, lying on her table top, precisely where she had left it. As soon as she saw it, she had rushed forward, hugging it to her as if it were a new born, rather than a piece of paper. 

This went on for a minute, before she eventually began to wonder how it had come there.

"Maybe,", she thought, "one of the janitors found it lying somewhere and returned it, seeing the name and class." Although this was a very likely explanation, but she was not convinced by it, she didn't know why. She wished she knew what exactly had happened.

And now, she did.

Drew had picked the essay when she had gone out with Percy, taken it home and copied it, and the next day, kept it on her table, before she had arrived.

At the present moment, Annabeth just stared at both of them, fury coursing through her veins. She was certain Manter knew that she was the one who'd originally written the essay, but was just seeking revenge, and protecting Drew. 

At this point, she herself was not sure what she wanted to do to both of them.

Actually, that was not true. She was completely certain what she wanted to do, and that was beat them both into a pulp, right there and then. And she could've easily managed it too. However, she knew that she would be expelled if she did that, so that was a risk she couldn't take.

So, instead of making a fool of herself, she took a deep breath to calm herself, went to her seat, took her bag, and started to leave the classroom.

"Hold up, Miss Chase", Manter leered, "Don't you have to say anything to Miss Tanaka?"

She stopped, turning around slowly. "Oh right, Mr. Manter,'', she said sweetly (he looked flabbergasted at the change in her tone), "Thanks for reminding me, I almost forgot. I do have to say something to Drew, and in fact, to you also."

He looked at her expectantly. She glanced from his face to Drew's, still smiling, before-

"Fuck. You.", she said stonily, before walking out of the class without waiting for his reaction, taking care to slam the door on her way out.

Although, she was proud of herself for handling the situation well, but thinking about it, even now, after 10 hours, when she was far away from both of them, in her apartment, filled her with rage.

She knew she had done the right thing, but she couldn’t shake off the feeling that she should have done something, anything…

As hard as she tried to forget it, Manter’s cruel sneer and Drew’s vindictive grin seemed branded on the inside of her brain. Every nerve in her body went aflame whenever these images resurfaced. 

Fury, untamed fury, was slowly building up inside her, steadily increasing. It would have been one thing if she had cheated and then been called out, but being accused wrongly was completely another.

Especially, as she had never, ever cheated in her life, and, in fact, had even thought about it.

She went to the window, hoping some view outside would help her clear her mind. But she just stared out, seeing nothing, absorbing nothing, unable to think straight. Her anger was skyrocketing, her vision was going blurry, her hands were shaking.

She didn’t know or care if she was being rational or irrational, logical or illogical, ridiculous or practical about this. 

She just knew that she wanted to take her frustration out on something. She wanted to – she just – she wanted to do something, anything, she wanted to calm her hands down but couldn’t stop them. She was going to – she didn’t know what – she was just going to –

CRASH!!! 

Annabeth drew her hand back through the jagged hole in the window. There were various pieces of glass embedded in her skin. She just stared at the fat drops of blood oozing out, observing them with a sort of distant, clinical interest.

Although, she was still much too angry to feel any pain, punching the window had taken most of the unreasonable fury out of her.

And for the time being, that was enough.

 

“Hey, Wise Girl!!!”, Percy greeted her brightly, when he came over later that evening.

“Hi Percy”, she said expressionlessly. He immediately realized that something was wrong. “Hey, are you all right? What’s the matter??” 

She put on a fake, cheery smile. “What are you talking about?? Everything’s completely fine.” 

Although his eyes narrowed a bit suspiciously, he said nothing, probably thinking that she would share the cause of her stress with him eventually, if she felt like it.

“So,” Percy asked, “do you have any studying to do?”. “Um, no. Not today.” He raised his eyebrow slightly (she’d always been dead jealous of it), “Really? No studies?”. “Yeah, Seaweed Brain. Sometimes, even I, do not have to study.” 

“All right, then. Today was one of the days I had to study, but, for your sake, I will sacrifice math and watch Friends with you.”, he said, with a large grin and a deep bow.

“Yep, and we both know what a huge-ass sacrifice that is!”, she smirked, before going to bring her laptop.

 

“Oh my God, Annabeth, would you just look at Chandler’s expression!!!”, Percy exclaimed, roaring and giggling at the same time, quite an impossible feat.

“I KNOW!!!!”, Annabeth screamed, before promptly collapsing into howls of laughter, her side aching, thumping her leg with her right hand, then crying out in pain… and realizing her mistake a second too late.

Percy had frozen, looking at her hand, which was wrapped messily in a cloth. She had avoided showing it to him, by subtly keeping her hand out of his view, and taking care to sit on his right side. But now, in her enthusiasm, she had accidentally ruined it all.

“Annabeth, what’s this?”, Percy asked, slowly taking her hand in his own, his glance shifting between it and her face, all signs of laughter gone from his face.

“It’s - it's nothing, Percy”, she said, aiming for nonchalance, trying to take her hand back. But he held firm.

Without paying any heed to her protests, he gingerly began unwrapping the cloth. As soon as it fell off and he looked at it, his eyes snapped up to meet hers, the green ones filled with horror and terror. “Oh my Gods, what have you done???!!!”, he asked frantically.

“Didn’t – didn’t I tell you before, it’s nothi-“

“Annabeth”, he cut her off, his voice deadly quiet, as he looked once again, at her hand, from which she’d removed the glass pieces to the best of her ability, and then just covered it in cloth, not wanting to go to the doctor, but not knowing how to treat it herself either (first aid wasn’t her strong point), leaving her hand looking badly cut up and bloody and bruised. “What. In Hades’ name. Did you do?"

“It’s just – Do you remember that essay that got lost and-“

“I’m not asking for the whole fucking story right now”, he said through gritted teeth. “I just want to know what you did to your hand to turn it into this??” 

“I, uh, punched the window,”, she said in a low voice. 

“Fuck, Annabeth”, Percy cried, jumping off the couch, “how could you be so stupid??!! And didn’t you even have enough sense to go to the doctor??”

“I thought it would get better soon!”

“Oh great!!! The genius Annabeth Chase thought that her hand, after she punched the window, would get better on its own!!! After all, when has she ever been wrong???”.

“Percy, I –“

“Just – just please, keep quiet, Annabeth, for once, and tell me where the first aid box is!”

“In the top drawer of that cupboard”, she pointed.

He immediately ran towards the cupboard, took out the first aid box, and came back to the couch, and kneeled in front of her.

“Ok, give me your hand.”

“Percy, I’m telling you, you don’t need to bother. I’ll just go to the…”, she faltered under his intense glare, and so, without further protest, held out her hand.

He gently took it in his own, and with his other hand, began slowly removing the leftover glass from her skin, using forceps. Annabeth stared at him as he did this, occasionally flinching. 

His hair was hanging forward as he bent over her hand, his look was one of intense concentration, and his long, nimble and slender fingers, were working quickly and deftly at the moment. His mouth was set in a thin line, which was how she knew that he was still furious with her.

“Percy-”

“Please don’t talk to me right now.”

So she didn’t say anything, but just looked at him as he worked.

When he was sure he had removed all the pieces, he, very lightly, ran his finger over her hand, to ensure that there was no glass left there.

This small, extremely small, like tinier-than-a-dot small action, caused her to have goosebumps across her entire arm. Percy noticed it immediately.

“Hey, Wise Girl”, he said, peeking at her through his long, beautiful eyelashes (She sighed with relief internally. The fact that he was using her nickname meant that he wasn’t that angry with her.), “Are you cold?”

“No, I’m – I’m completely fine.”

He nodded once, then rubbing a wet cloth very gingerly over her skin, proceeded to apply some yellow cream.

“Ohhh…”, she sighed when Percy tenderly rubbed it in small circles over her hand, as it calmed the throbbing that she hadn’t even realized was there.

Percy smiled slightly. “So you feeling better now?”

“Loads better. Thanks a lot!”

He finished applying the cream, then tied a clean cloth over her hand, taking care not to make it too tight. “There. That’s the best I could do, Annabeth. So you’ll have to make do with only this tonight, as all the clinics are closed. But tomorrow, you’re going with me to the doctor, first thing in the morning.”

Having said so, he went to wash his hands, and after that, returned to the couch, and sat in stony silence.

“Percy, please-“, she began.

“You can tell me now, if you wish,”, he said. “Why you did this – this, you know, this amazing thing.”

“Oh, that. Well, you see…”, and she told him everything.

He was looking outraged by the time she finished. “You’re telling me that that asshole, that little piece of shit, accused you, you, of cheating???”

She nodded angrily.

“I see.”, he said quietly. “But, why did you have to hurt yourself over that bastard's actions??? And that too, to this degree??”

“So what the Hades was I supposed to do?”, she demanded.

“Not this, Annabeth”, he whispered, a rare vulnerability in his voice. “ You could have called me. I could have helped you to calm down. Or you could even have told me about it when I came and asked you what was wrong.”

“Now, see, you hadn’t asked me what was wrong. You had asked me what the matter was. At least get your facts right, Seaweed Brain!”, she smirked, making a lame attempt to lighten the mood.

Percy just stared at her as if he hadn’t heard a word she had said. Suddenly, he surged forward and threw his arms around her, pulling her into a fierce hug.

“Annabeth”, he mumbled shakily, his lips against her hair. “Please, please, don’t ever do something like that again. Please. You don’t know how I felt when I looked at your hand and it was all bloody and scraped and… Please, if you ever feel angry or something, you can call me, and I promise, I’ll always, always, be there for you, and I will do everything in my power to cheer you up and-“

“Percy, calm down!”, Annabeth, highly alarmed, hugged him back, patting his unruly curls. “These are just some scratches. They’ll get better in no time!”

He drew in an uneven breath. “I know that, and I also know that I’m probably overreacting. But please, if you lov- care about me and trust me at all, just promise me that you’ll call me anytime you feel like this again.”

She smiled against him and held him a bit more tightly. “I will, Percy. I will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!!  
> Please leave kudos and comments, they'll make my day!! :)  
> Another chapter coming up in 3-4 days!!!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!!!  
> So, I'm back with another chapter!!!!  
> Hope you all enjoy this!!!
> 
> Just a little heads up, I don't know much about prom, like, whether it's an annual thing or once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. I am, however, going with the former assumption.

There were four days to go till prom, and Annabeth was stumped.

It wasn't that she was much interested in going to these shallow, vain thing. But she had, from sometime, been studying too much, pushing herself too hard, and needed a break from all of it.

Although it wasn't like prom was the only option for relaxing, but her friend Piper had insisted she come, and after some persuasion, Annabeth had thought, "Well, why not? It'll get me the break I need, Piper will also get what she wants, and I will find out (or rather, fail to find out) what makes prom so special! So it's a win-win situation". Or, that was what she had thought a week ago, when she'd readily agreed. 

Now, she was starting to reconsider.

She wasn't worried about what she would wear, figuring she could get anything that was comfortable, and wasn't expensive.

No, that wasn't the problem. The problem was who she would go with.

None of her friends could do so, because they were all going with their significant others (other than Nico, who was going with his significant annoyance, Will). In fact, come to think of it, she realized she didn't have any friend who was single, other than Percy.

And also, she didn't want to go with some random guy, because the chance that any of them would go with her, after she had turned them down over the years, when they asked her to prom over the years, were pretty slim. So that left her with, well... just Percy.

She was, however, almost completely sure that he would refuse, the reason being that he himself had also never gone to prom, despite a lot (seriously, a lot) of girls asking him out.

"Maybe he isn't really interested in the whole concept either.'', she'd always thought. And now, when she was about to ask him to go with her, these thoughts were making her really nervous.

They were on their way to college, and Annabeth was regretting her decision more than ever. Percy knew something was up, because he kept asking her what was wrong. Whenever he did that, she would give him a tight-lipped smile, and mutter a small "Nothing". 

She was almost about to postpone talking to him, but then she figured that it was now or never, and thus, she steeled herself and began.

'' So Percy, are you going to prom this year?". He gave her a long, weird look, "Um.. You know that I'm not.", he said. "But if somebody asked you, would you consider it?'', she asked. "I don't really think s-"

"Percy will you go to prom with me?'', she suddenly burst out.

He looked stunned, ''You? But you never go to prom!", he asked, with a confused tilt of his head. "Yeah, yeah, but I'm going this year.", she said impatiently. "So, will you come with me or not?"

A radiant smile was spreading across his face. "Are you kidding?!", he exclaimed. "Say no and miss the first and most probably, last chance to laugh at your nonexistent dancing skills? Oh my gods, that's a sin I'd never even think about committing!". 

"So, you'll go then?'', she asked hopefully, deciding to ignore the insult. "Of course, I'll go with you, Wise Girl", he laughed. 

"But, Percy, uh, there is something that you should... um, know, I mean, it's completely fine if you don't want to go after hearing that and I really won’t mind so-" "Hey, you're babbling. What’s going on?", he asked gently. 

"It's just, you know, that I really, really can't wear a dress. I just, I don’t know why, but I can't. I'm not at all comfortable in it. So, I'm probably just going to wear jeans and stuff, and if you don't want to go to your only year at prom with a girl who can't wear a dress, no prob-" 

"First of all, stop saying that. That I don't want to go with you", he interrupted, staring at her sternly. 

"And secondly, do you really think I care about that, Annabeth? I mean, you could wear a sack to prom, for all I care! I don't know what's gotten into you lately. It's not at all like you to act so dumb!'', he sighed theatrically, grinning when she gave him a shove. 

They smiled at each other, before Percy slung an arm around her shoulders, and they continued on their way, chatting. And just like that, all her worries disappeared.

Actually, scratch that. Rather, all her _earlier_ worries disappeared. Almost instantly, new ones took their place. The reason behind them was this really weird, really uncomfortable feeling in her stomach and chest. What was it?? Actually, she wasn't stupid, they were the infamous butterflies-in-stomach. She knew that much, although this was the first time it had happened to her. 

But the main question was, why was she experiencing it?? Or rather, why in Hades' name was she experiencing it around Percy, her best friend since seven?

Although Annabeth hated unsolved mysteries, she left this one that way. Because something told her that when the answer was clear in front of her, she would not like it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!!!  
> Hope you enjoyed this!!! :D
> 
> Please leave kudos and comments!!  
> Next chapter coming soon!!!

**Author's Note:**

> To be continued, for sure.  
> Please let me know what you guys think of it. 
> 
> Please leave Kudos and Comments. They'll make my day. : )  
> But, this is my first piece of fanfiction ever, so please don't be too harsh.


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